The Shedd Aquarium‘s Free Days are notoriously packed, but we discovered this year that if you go early you can avoid the crowds. We arrived at 10:30am and got STREET PARKING (!?!?!) over by the Planetarium (just had to pay the meter!!). There was basically no line (took about 5 minutes to get inside). But by the time we left around 1pm there was a line that stretched way beyond the steps of the museum and the museum had certainly gotten much more crowded. But we had about 60 minutes of relatively crowd free wandering.

I packed a lunch which we were able to eat outside at their outdoor dining area- tables and chairs and a beautiful view of the lake. No hassle or issues with us bringing in our food and water bottles which is always nice.

I also created this printable Aquarium Scavenger Hunt for the boys, just in case. And while we didn’t need it (they were happy to wander) they did love picking up a map at the museum and pretending to go on a “treasure hunt” to find the creatures on their list. ENJOY. (My boys are age 3 and 6 and both loved this activity)